FOG BLOG CANADA LOG: LANDLORD -TENANT DISPUTE LEADS TO SHOOTING OF ENGAGED COUPLE IN HAMILTON ON.

Hamilton police say engaged couple shot dead while fleeing landlord-tenant dispute A brazen double homicide in which an engaged couple was allegedly gunned down by their landlord as they fled their rental home has shaken residents of their southern Ontario city and raised questions about how a landlord-tenant dispute could explode into such violence, Hamilton police said Sunday.

Sgt. Steve Bereziuk said a 27-year-old female educational assistant and a 28-year-old male electrician were shot dead just outside the home they shared in the community of Stoney Creek on Saturday, describing them both as “truly innocent victims.”

Bereziuk said the 57-year-old suspect is a landlord who lived in a unit above the tenants and died hours after police negotiators tried to resolve the situation peacefully while area residents sheltered in place on police instructions.

Bereziuk said witnesses reported hearing gunfire and described seeing the couple running out of the house late afternoon on Saturday. He said police expected to spend much of the day trying to piece together details of the deadly altercation, which revolved around “the state of the rental unit.” “These are the questions, right? How does it escalate so quickly and to such lethal force? That’s something we’re obviously continuing to look into,” Bereziuk said in a phone interview.

“It’s a perfect storm of tragedy in this case because you can’t predict something like this and you can’t prevent it. Because nobody was on our radar, at least for the Hamilton police. It makes it difficult to understand how things can (happen), certainly with respect to a landlord-tenant dispute.”